MAKING BIOCHAR: with Peter Hirst of New England Biochar. How data, cheap sensors and Android could be a game changer for rural farmers. Over the past four years as Jason Aramburu sold kilns, which turn plant waste into bio charcoal, to Kenyan farmers, he became something of an expert on one of the key things that Kenyan farmers lack: data. “There’s very little data anywhere,” says Aramburu, founder and CEO of startup Re:char, over a breakfast interview on Thursday, as Re:char chief technology and resident Maker Luke Iseman nods in agreement.
For example, rural Kenyan farmers can easily spend 30 percent of their income on fertilizer, but 80 percent of that fertilizer can be wasted because there is little data collected about the best places and times to use it. The lack of info isn’t just from the farmer’s perspective. Aramburu says when he met the CEO of a major fertilizer company recently, he asked him what he knew about his customers — his response: “very little.” Re:char CTO Luke Iseman (L) and founder/CEO Jason Aramburu (R) showing off an early prototype of SoilIQ A soil data cloud in the sky Orange interest. Jason Aramburu. Re:char - Jason Aramburu. Re:char. Re:char Grow more Food and Fight Climate Change. Re:Char - Empowering Smallholder Farmers with Sustainable Fertilizers - The Economist 2013. How Biochar Will Help Kenya Go Green And Save Money. Re:char is a pioneering company that sells kilns to farmers in Kenya that allow them to convert their farm waste into what's known as biochar, which can then be used for cooking.
As an enterprise, Re:char seeks to deliver a "triple bottom line," expanding the uses of sustainable alternatives for energy, providing a cost-effective solution for farmers in an effort to combat poverty, and stemming deforestation in Africa by encouraging use of biochar as cooking fuel instead of cutting down trees for firewood. Jason Aramburu, the CEO of re:char who works in Bungoma, in the Western Province of Kenya, spoke to us about the emerging area of biochar and a grant that re:char just received from the Gates Foundation to develop a system to transform human waste into biochar. Fast Company: Where did you get the idea for re:char? Jason Aramburu: I was doing due diligence for a clean energy investor in New York. After the 2008 financial crisis, the investor I was working for was hit hard. It's tricky. The Next Industrial Revolution Starts in this 20-foot Shipping Container. TEDxHilo - Josiah Hunt - Biochar and the Future of Farming.